


I Can Teach You How to Dance

by ImWithEnjolras



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 11:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2729969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImWithEnjolras/pseuds/ImWithEnjolras
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He looked over Lev’s shoulder, catching Noya’s gaze. For some strange reason, Tanaka felt his heart nearly stop and his breath catch in his throat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Teach You How to Dance

**Author's Note:**

> My first non-angst Haikyuu fanfic. Please, enjoy! :)

It wasn’t so bad. Well, to any outsider looking in, it looked pretty bad.

 

...but teaching Haiba Lev how ballroom dance really wasn’t that bad.

 

Tanaka had encountered worse dancers than Haiba Lev - and Lev is a pretty bad dancer. But Tanaka was actually having fun.

 

“Sorry!” Lev sucked in a breath through his teeth, posture curving immediately after stepping on Tanaka’s toes. Again.

 

“It’s all right!” Tanaka started laughing, his voice echoing through the gym.

 

“I’m so bad at this…” Lev slumped further into himself.

 

“Hey,” Tanaka took his hand off of Lev’s shoulder to push a finger against the taller boy’s forehead. “You’re not _that_ bad.”

 

Lev frowned, but said nothing and got back into proper posture. “I just can’t get the hang of it.”

 

“You’re not supposed to, future-ace-kun. At least not right away.” The Karasuno wing spiker put his hand back on Lev’s shoulder while the other grabbed at Lev’s outstretched hand. “Now, let’s try again.”

 

It was amusing watching Lev’s furrowed eyebrows as he counted under his breath. He was a bit stiff, but Lev was eager and that’s all that mattered.

 

Tanaka had been surprised, honestly, when Nekoma’s #11 asked him to teach how to ballroom dance. Tanaka could feel his face heat up - he hadn’t meant for the team to find out that he could ballroom dance. This...hobby...talent...of his was something so far back in his past, he was sure that it would never come back up.

 

He was just a kid when his parents put him in ballroom dance lessons. His hair had been longer then. He was entered with Saeko and Tanaka quickly found out that he was actually kind of good at it. He entered competitions - at first his partner was Saeko, but she ended up liking the drums a lot more so he partnered up with other girls. He won some and he lost some, but he had a damn good time doing it.

 

Somewhere down the line, Tanaka just stopped dancing. He had transferred schools, got involved with other things and eventually volleyball took up all his spare time. Dancing ballroom again was so nostalgic for Tanaka; ballroom was his zen place.

 

Tanaka was used to leading, but considering Lev was significantly taller than him and it would be weird if Lev learned how to follow instead of lead...well, Lev had his hand on Tanaka’s waist and that’s the end of that.

 

“Ow…”

 

“Ah! So sorry, Tanaka-senpai!”

 

Tanaka waved a hand in front of his face, distracting Lev from seeing his flinch. “Don’t worry about it.”

 

They let go of each other momentarily while Tanaka tried to figure out if there was another way to teach Lev. He needed the guy to relax, but with him always looking down at his-

 

“Have you been looking down at your feet the whole time, Lev?” Lev blinked owlishly at the older boy.

 

“Well, yeah...how else am I supposed to see what I’m doing?”

 

“Well, stop doing it.”

 

“But-”

 

“Seriously, stop it.” He punched him lightly on the arm. “You’ve actually got rhythm and you know what to do. If you look down at your feet, you may know what you’re doing but you’ll never know where you’re going.”

 

Lev’s ridiculously loud gasp made Tanaka fold in half in laughter. “I never thought of it that way!”

 

“Come on, let’s get back to it.” Lev got back into holding position almost naturally - it was kind of scary how fast this kid could learn things.

 

“So, I shouldn’t look down at my feet right?”

 

“Exactly.” It was actually fun teaching someone something he loved doing. Don’t get Tanaka wrong - he loved volleyball! - it’s just that everyone else around him loved it and was good at it already. It was cool to be teaching someone something that only he was good at.

 

“Whoa!” Tanaka looked up at Lev, finding the boy’s eyes wide open and a grin stretching from ear to ear. “I’m doing it senpai!”

 

“Yeah!” Even Tanaka was surprised. “You totally are!”

 

He was still a little hesitant and the stiffness hadn’t gone, but the boy had improved greatly.

 

“Thank you, Tanaka-senpai, for taking the time to teach me how to dance!”

 

“It’s really no problem, Lev-kun.” Lev started leading them in wider circles. “Why did you want to learn anyway?”

 

“Hm?” Lev nearly stumbled, his sneaker sliding slightly. “I wanted to dance in the dance-off, but Inouka took my rightful position!”

 

“Oh yeah, the dance-off.” He patted Lev on the shoulder. “At this rate, you’ll have Kuroo wishing his partner was you!”

 

“Really?!”

 

“What kind of senpai would I be if I didn’t make my kouhai look good, right?”

 

At this, Lev’s enthusiasm only increased and they were soon gliding awkwardly around the floor. This was a lot better than earlier. They went silent again, with only Lev’s silent counts breaking the quiet. Tanaka bit his lip, trying to figure out a way for Lev to loosen up a little more. Oh yeah!

 

“When I first started dancing, my teacher taught me a trick so that I’d be the best dancer.” Lev looked at him expectantly, their waltzing uninterrupted. “He told me...that in order to be the best dancer on the floor, I have to imagine myself dancing with the one person I want to dance with most in the world.”

 

“The person I want to dance with most?” Lev cocked his head to the side, halting their movements altogether.

 

“Yeah, obviously you’d want to dance your best for that person right?” Lev pressed his lips into a line, seriously considering who he could imagine dancing with. “Did you think of someone?”

 

“Yeah!” Lev’s voice was bright with enthusiasm. “I want to dance with the captain!”

 

Tanaka blinked, both surprised and unsurprised with Lev’s answer. He would’ve laughed too, had it not been for the earnest and excited look in Lev’s eyes. “Well-”

 

“Hey, guys! What’re you up to?” Tanaka and Lev’s heads turned in the direction of the doorway, finding Karasuno’s libero.

 

“Tanaka-senpai is teaching me how to dance!” Lev jumped excitedly.

 

“Really? I thought they were just kidding when they were talking about dancing or whatever.” Noya stepped into the gym. “Can I watch?”

 

Lev nodded enthusiastically. He was going to show Karasuno’s libero just how good of a dancer he had become!

 

Tanaka could feel his grin stretch ear to ear - Noya was going to see him do something he’d never done in front of the rest of Karasuno. “You’re going to be blown away, Noya!”

 

With that, Lev positioned himself around Tanaka and lead them through a waltz. “I’m imagining I’m dancing with the captain, Tanaka-senpai.” He whispered conspiratorially. “I think it’s working.”

 

And work it did! Lev’s awkward gait smoothed out significantly and he was a lot more relaxed. His confidence skyrocketed - it was as if he were showing off. Lev’s dancing wasn’t perfect and he still had a lot of work to do, but it was good.

 

“You’re doing real good, Lev-kun!”

 

“I know!” Lev spun Tanaka around. “This is so cool!”

 

Tanaka looked over at Noya who was sitting backwards on a plastic chair. They caught each other’s gaze and they grinned their patented Tanaka-Noya grin. In those quick moments, Tanaka had only three things in his thoughts:

 

  1. Noya really was someone incredibly special to him
  2. Seeing Noya just over there, smiling while watching him dance made his heart do weird things
  3. He was having a hard time turning his focus back on Lev.



 

“Do you have someone you want to dance with, senpai?”

 

He shook his head, getting his thoughts back in order. He looked over Lev’s shoulder, catching Noya’s gaze. For some strange reason, Tanaka felt his heart nearly stop and his breath catch in his throat.

 

“I didn’t before…” Noya sent him a wide grin, waving madly. Tanaka’s gaze warmed just watching the libero. “But I guess I have someone in mind now.”

 

Lev blinked in surprise. _Soft._ He thought. _Tanaka-senpai’s voice was so soft just then._  

 

-

 

Noya had waited for Tanaka to finish showering and now they made their way to the team’s room, a comfortable silence between them. After a while, Tanaka noticed Noya glancing at him every so often.

 

“What’s up, Noya?” They stopped walking, the door to the room was only a few feet from them. Tanaka could clearly hear Asahi’s tell-tale snores.

 

“Nothing - I, uh-” Noya rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “You looked really cool dancing, Ryuu!”

 

Tanaka could feel his cheeks heat up. “Uh - thanks!”

 

It became quiet again and Tanaka rubbed the toe of his shoe against the wood floor.

 

“I-”

 

“You should-”

 

The two friends caught each other’s wide-eyed gaze before laughing quietly. Tanaka urged Noya: “You go first.”

 

“Oh, well..you should...uh...” Noya paused, but then looked Tanaka in the eye earnestly. “Do you think you could teach me how to dance too, Ryuu?”

 

Tanaka blinked, a red blush crawling up his neck. Something about Noya’s earnesty right then got his stomach flipping around. He nearly forgot to answer.

 

“You don’t have-”

 

“Sure, of course.” He interrupted. Was it normal to forget how to breathe around your best friend? “Anything for you, Noya.”

 

Noya’s eyes practically sparkled and his grin was so wide. “Awesome!”

 

With that, they made their way into the room and to their futons. Tanaka could feel the grin on his face as he pulled the blankets up to his chin. He knew that the warm feelings spreading through his body were not going to go anywhere soon - and he was fine with that. He turned to the side, finding Noya’s smile facing him.

 

 _I can’t wait!_ Noya mouthed to him before closing his eyes. Asahi’s nearly comical snores perforated the room.

 

_Neither can I, Yuu._

 

**Author's Note:**

> I aim to increase the amount of Tanaka fanfics everywhere, be prepared!


End file.
